Monthly Archives: June 2016

An interesting aspect of studying employment is people entering the job market. At what age do people most commonly enter the market? What factors influence the time a person spends looking for a first job?

As we previously discussed, the issue of gun ownership is one of the most controversial in the US. In this post, we’ll analyze a bit more information about what people think of free gun possession in America. According to Statista.com, the most-armed American state is currently Texas, with 403,185 registered weapons. California comes in second with 312,264 registered weapons, and Virginia takes third with 268,234 registered weapons in the state. Florida and Pennsylvania round out the top five, with 254,391 and 225,377 respectively.

After many years of debate, California became the first state in the United States to legalize medical marijuana in 1996. As of 2015, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use. Despite some forms of legalization, thousands of American people think that marijuana should be legalized for free use.

Income tax policy in the United States is known to be progressive: those who earn higher amounts have to pay an increasingly larger percentage in taxes compared to those who make less. This allows the government to redistribute wealth and fight economic inequalities within the society. But do rich people really pay higher taxes?

In this post we will explore the American Time Use Survey data to see how hobbies have changed in American society over the last decade. The ATUS provides information about the time Americans spend on various activities throughout the day. Activities are classified into 17 broad categories, as well as over a hundred more detailed ones, providing quite detailed information about leisure and sports. The ATUS started in 2003 with close connections to American Community Survey, so we will be able to see the changes over the course of a decade.

Some popular topics for discussion on our blog have included employment numbers for different economic sectors and immigration. As we have already seen, the share of people born outside of the U.S. differs significantly from state to state. But what are the effects of immigration on the Construction sector?